Guide to Kegels for Stress Incontinence

Kegels are one of the most important things a woman can do for her reproductive health. They are right up there with quitting smoking, sticking to a healthy weight and keeping alcohol consumption to a minimum. Many women have good intentions, but aren’t sure if they are doing the exercises correctly -- it is a difficult exercise to illustrate! Today we give you a step by step guide to doing Kegels to help reduce stress incontinence … and perhaps improve your sex life along the way.

Finding the muscles
The standard way to find your pelvic floor muscles is to try to stop the flow of urine in mid-stream, next time you go to the toilet. However, do not do all your Kegels this way! It is likely to cause bladder or urinary tract infections as much as cure your stress incontinence.

Preparation
You should empty your bladder first for best results from your muscles. Sit or lie down -- whatever makes you comfortable. Eventually sitting will be easier, as you are more likely to do Kegels while sitting and doing something else.

Technique for curing stress incontinence
Many women do hundreds of fast, light Kegels -- this is not useful for either stress incontinence or preventing prolapse. You should alternate between:

* Sets of 10-15 very strong, fast Kegels to improve the muscle's aerobic fitness
* Sets of five to ten very strong Kegels held for as long as possible, to help improve the muscle's anaerobic fitness (stamina)

Keep pushing yourself to improve -- when you can easily do sets of ten, start doing sets of twelve. Then move up to sets of fifteen, and then move to two sets of twenty.

Concentrate first, automate after
Eventually you will want your Kegels to become automatic. It is not possible for our brains to actually focus on two things at once … so make sure you focus on your Kegels while you are setting up your routine. When you eventually feel that they are automatic enough for you to do them while concentrating on other tasks, you will be more likely to maintain correct technique. Remember that bad technique can sometimes increase the likelihood of developing stress incontinence.

When to do Kegels
If you associate Kegel time with a particular task, you are more likely to remember to do your exercises in the long run. For example:

* Do you watch the news every day, or another TV program regularly?
* Do you have a break from work for sit-down lunch?
* Do you check your email before going to work in the morning?
* Do you stand at the counter chopping vegetables for dinner every night?

These are just some suggestions -- but the key to Kegels success and stress incontinence